


The Politics of Love Affairs

by mcgarrygirl78



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Drama, F/M, Family, Humor, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-08
Updated: 2014-10-08
Packaged: 2018-02-20 08:23:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2421803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcgarrygirl78/pseuds/mcgarrygirl78
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Well you may have been talking about your other boyfriend but you accidentally said it to me.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Politics of Love Affairs

He wondered if she knew he was watching her. He wondered if she cared. She was curled up on the loveseat in the den, reading a book that rested on the arm. Mudgie relaxed at her feet and seemed quite cozy there. He’d surely lost his dog because Mudgie never used to let Dave come in without rushing to express his love for his master. He seemed content with Erin’s foot occasionally rubbing his head while she turned into the pages. He hadn't even turned in Dave’s direction.

“Aren't you going to sing the song?” Erin asked, not looking up from her book.

“It doesn’t need to be that way.” Dave replied as he stepped into the room.

“Why not? You revel in singing the song, David. This is the part where I indulge you.”

“There are much better ways for you to do that. Besides, Sanderson is home tonight. I know it’s not much of a home but he’s probably getting some of the best sleep he’s had in 25 years. He's finally a free man.”

“Did Agent Morgan find his son?” Erin asked. She slipped a bookmark in the page and finally looked at him. The book and her glasses went on the end table. Dave was wearing all black tonight. He knew what wearing all black did to her.

“Yeah.” Dave nodded. “This is a huge story; Joshua had already seen something on the news. He’s a resident at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia with aspirations of opening a clinic for poor kids.”

“That’s admirable.”

“He was too young to remember the night his mother and sister were murdered, which should’ve been a blessing. Instead he just had 25 years of misinformation fed to him.”

“But he's agreed to come and meet with his father?”

“I'm picking him up at National late tomorrow morning.”

“The evidence against Sanderson was overwhelming.” Erin shook her head.

“Don’t do that to yourself.” Dave said. “When you sent Morgan to that prison it wasn’t about guilt or innocence. He was supposed to assess risk after 25 years of confinement. That’s what he did, based on his training and experience. The last thing anyone wanted was more death but without that confrontation this case would’ve never been solved.”

“Many of us already thought it was.” She replied.

“His prints were on the knife; it’s plausible. But sometimes you only have to scratch a little below the surface to discover a completely different story. You surely shouldn’t blame yourself, Erin; you weren't the judge, jury, or prosecutor.”

“I almost prosecuted him a second time. I was supposed to be…I wasn’t supposed to be doing that.”

“You're quite sexy though, when you think you're right. How much did I want to grab you and kiss you breathless when you got right up in my face? You're lucky Derek was in the room.”

“Yes, we don’t want to scare the children.”

Dave smirked. He walked across the room and poured himself a glass of bourbon. Erin swung her feet on the floor, gently nudging Mudgie off the furniture. He went over to sniff Dave’s hand.

“Oh, now you care about me?” Dave asked, petting his head. “Hey Mudge.”

The dog barked as Dave sat down on the couch beside Erin. She just looked at him. He slipped his free arm around her, pulling her close. Dave smiled when she kissed his shoulder and then bit it.

“Tell me you love me.” She whispered.

“You need to be reassured?” he asked.

“I just want to hear it.” she lied.

“I love you baby.”

Dave kissed her, gently at first and then with more passion. Erin moaned. She slid her arms around his neck, moving her hands up and through his hair.

“I love you too. I just cannot imagine spending 25 years in prison for a crime I didn’t commit. The worse part is the person who did it is now powerful enough to run for public office. James Stanworth had a lot of money and even more powerful friends. I probably would’ve voted for him. Fuck politics.”

“Ooh, say that again.” Dave rubbed her back.

“Fuck politics. Fuck it, fuck it, fuck it!”

“Damn skippy. Except…”

“It’s my job.” Erin replied sighing. She buried her face in the crook of his neck for a moment. “I'm the brick wall Agent Morgan had to run through.”

“It’s OK; he was willing to do it for the greater good.”

“I don’t regret what I do, David.”

“Somebody has to do it.”

“Well don’t say it like that.” she moved away from him on the couch. “Don’t say it as if I relish being thought of as some bureaucrat.”

“I didn’t say it like that.”

“You did.” Erin’s tone was defiant. “OK, so Sanderson was innocent. I concede that point. You were right and I was wrong.”

“Erin, I didn’t say…”

“But you had little to nothing on Stanworth.” She bulldozed right over him as if he wasn’t speaking. “What if you'd have been wrong? It could’ve blown up in your faces. Three good agents would’ve lost their jobs tonight. There’s no coming back from a mistake of that caliber.”

“Sometimes you have to take the risk.” Dave said. “We weighed our options; knew what had to be done. Just as you weighed your options and told us to back off. It’s not a right or wrong situation, Erin. It’s just a situation.”

“It’s a situation we constantly find ourselves in.” She replied.

“That’s not true.” Dave shook his head.

He was used to this, mostly. Erin was afraid being on opposites sides in the job would eventually tear them apart. They'd been together for three years…survived Foyet, JJ, and every little skirmish in between. Dave was sure he would lose some respect for her if she softened her stance on FBI protocol and policy. Erin Strauss had always been a stickler for the rules.

That was OK, someone had to be. Dave Rossi had never been and yet it still worked. It worked because they loved each other. It worked because no matter how hard she made it seem when she was feeling like this, being Dave and Erin was easy. Being Rossi and Strauss was easy too. All couples had clashes. It wasn’t real if they didn’t.

She got up from the couch, went to walk away but Dave took hold of her hand. When Erin looked at him she could see it in his eyes. She didn’t know how he did it but she rarely saw that in his eyes at Quantico. It was love. It was lust, desire, curiosity, and a little bit of awe.

She didn’t know if she deserved it but she loved to eat it up. There were nights she lie awake wondering how in the hell this had worked for so long. Her friends told her to stop, she was going to waste time thinking and miss something really good. Erin tried; sometimes she succeeded and often she failed. She hated failing. Maybe that’s why she was so afraid this would all blow up in her face. Still she wondered how long it needed to be good before she could stop giving a damn about everything else.

“You said something to me once, baby.” He said, lacing his fingers through hers.

“What did I say?”

“That you were ready for every battle, uphill and otherwise.”

“I said that?” Erin raised an eyebrow.

“Mmm hmm.” He nodded.

“About us?”

“Well you may have been talking about your other boyfriend but you accidentally said it to me.”

“Hmm.”

Dave pulled her back onto her lap. He caressed her face, kissing her deeply. Erin rested her forehead on his.

“I just want this to be over.” She said.

“It is over. Wait…you're talking about the case, right?”

“What did you think I was talking about? I'm not leaving you, David Rossi.”

“Sometimes I'm not sure about that.” he said. He had doubts and worries too, fears of losing her. Dave never thought it would be because of the work. He just thought his luck sucked. Their relationship had already lasted twice as long as his third marriage. Something had to give, right?

“I love you. Maybe that’s why I worry so much.”

“You don’t have anything to worry about. If we were alike, we’d kill each other. I like the battle, I like the back and forth, I like that you never once thought about giving in because you're my girlfriend. I like that you got up in my face and called me Dave. I could see it in your eyes, you wanted to call me David but you didn’t cross that line. We can do it all. We are doing it all.”

“I've been doing it all for a long time. It’s hard work and I'm tired.” Erin replied.

“Why didn’t you just say so? I can do the hard work tonight…I don’t even mind.”

Erin laughed. She hugged him and never wanted to let go. Of course she didn’t have to and that was probably the best part of all. The only thing she had to let go of was this case, this moment. Another one would come along before Erin knew it. There was always something. That’s what made it so silly to worry; there was always something. The longer she held onto Dave, the looser that something’s grip on her was.

***

  



End file.
